Who wrote 'Misty'... Johnny Mathis, Erroll Garner or Clint Eastwood?

Q. My wife is a big Johnny Mathis fan with “Misty” being her favorite song. For years she has insisted that it’s the original version and that Mathis wrote it. I think not, but don’t know the facts. — Martin Z.

A. Johnny Mathis’ version certainly was a gigantic hit in 1959, but it was not the original, and Johnny did not write it.
It was released in 1954 as an instrumental by its composer, pianist Erroll Garner, with lyrics added by Johnny Burke in 1955 (This is the same Johnny Burke who wrote with composer Jimmy Van Heusen, e.g. 'Moonlight Becomes You'.
Both Mathis’ and Garner’s versions are in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it has been recorded by many other artists, including Sarah Vaughan, Julie London and more. It is a big favorite of Clint Eastwood.
Here are the lyrics;
Look at me,
I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I'm clinging to a cloud
I can't understand,
I get misty, holding your hand.

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Walk my way,
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear,
I get misty the moment you're near
You can say that you're leading me on
But it's just what I want you to do
Don't you realize how hopelessly I'm lost
That's why I'm following you.
On my own,
Would I wander through this wonderland alone
Never knowing my right foot from my left,
My hat from my glove,
I get misty, and too much in love.
I'm too misty, and too much in love

All lyrics are property and copyright of their owners.
All lyrics provided for educational purposes only.

Britain's Vera Lynn celebrates 95th birthday!

Yesterday was the birthday of one of the most popular singers during the Second World War...Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (born Vera Margaret Welch arrived on 20 March 1917). Lynn is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular with the Allied troops and the Brits on the homefront.

During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. She became known, and is still referred to, as "The Forces' Sweetheart"; the songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "There'll Always Be an England," and "The White Cliffs of Dover."

She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" and "My Son, My Son".

In 2009 she became the oldest living artist to make it to No. 1 on the British album chart, at the age of 92.

She has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She is still held in great affection by veterans of the Second World War and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the twentieth century. (Edited from Wiki)

Listen to Vera Lynn's classic recording of "The White Cliffs of Dover"....it was a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Bandleader Kay Kyser's version was a big hit in the US following our entrance into the war in late 1941.(Britain entered the war in 1939.)

 

A favorite Sinatra story

Q. Do you have a favorite Frank Sinatra story?   N.G.  Tampa

A. There is no one story.....there are so many....but this story of friendship and loyalty ranks high;

In May 1998 shortly after Frank's death, Sidney Zion wrote the following column for the NY Daily News about his special friendship.

"One long ago night in the backroom of P.J. Clarke's, I asked Sinatra what he missed most by being Frank Sinatra. He dragged a Camel, sipped the Jack Daniel's and said: "The bars."

They wouldn't let him hang the bars; the bores and the boors and the broads would be on him. No way to stand up and do what he loved to do most drink and talk to pals and carry on till the sun came up. "It's a big price to pay," I said. Sinatra turned the blue rays on me, the eyes saying if you think I'm kidding, you're gone, buddy. When he knew I was serious, it was the beginning of a great friendship. "You're the first Jew since Toots Shor to understand this," he said. "Anytime you want somebody's legs broken, call me."

Woulda coulda shoulda there were plenty of legs I wanted broken in the years I hung out with Frank Sinatra. But I guess I was too Jewish to call the marker. Instead, I enjoyed him. Others may talk about his voice and his place in the pantheon of entertainers. I remember Frank as the best raconteur I ever knew.
After a pizza dinner at Rocky Lee's, he asked me where we should have nightcaps. I said the Players Club. Frank was a Player. He said, "Great."
It was a Thursday night, when usually the Players was crowded. But this night nobody was there. We hung the bar. I was embarrassed that we were alone. Eventually, a few poker players dropped down from upstairs, the word had gotten out that Sinatra was on the premises.

Ken Roberts, the father of Tony, walked up behind Sinatra and intoned: "From Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook on the Pompton Turnpike, ladies and gentlemen . . . Frank Sinatra!"

Without looking back, Sinatra said: "Kenny, you old sonofabitch." They embraced, these two guys who hadn't seen each other in 40 years not since Roberts announced Sinatra at the Jersey nightclub.
There followed two hours of Sinatra soliloquy, complete with a history of his big-band days, from Harry James to Tommy Dorsey.

He lived spectacularly in the worlds of politics, movies and money moguls. His formal education died before high school, but he read voraciously.
"I can't sleep more than two hours at a time," he told me, "So I pick up books in between." The insomnia helped him overcome an inferiority complex on schooling. And turned him into a virtual encyclopedia on our times.

When my daughter Libby died at the hands of doctors in New York Hospital in 1984, Frank invited my wife and me to '21.' When Elsa went to the ladies' room, he said: "You're coming to Palm Springs with me." I told him, "No chance." He said, "You need this, and I don't want you to say a word to Elsa until you're home. If she refuses, tell her that I'll be at your apartment tomorrow, and I will lay all my blue-eye charm on her." We went, and it helped to save us. A year later, I asked Sinatra to appear at Yale to do a lecture in Libby's memory.

"Book it!" he said. The result was a deep interview between Sinatra and me covering his career, including all the Mafia allegations against him.
This interview, on tape, proves what I said before: Frank Sinatra is a great raconteur. It's as if you could be with him and me at Jilly's.

The last time I was with him alone for hours was in Athens a few years ago. The promoters booked him into a coliseum the size of Rome. He drew 30,000 people and sang his heart out for 100 minutes.
After the show, we hung out. Near dawn, one of his people tried to get him to sleep.

"What?" he said. "It's the shank of the night! Bring more bottles."
If there's a heaven, the drinks are on Frank Sinatra.        Sidney Zion (died August 2009)

Tony Bennett tv special on PBS this week (New York tonight)

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (PBS)

Tonight on WNET New York at 8pm is the encore performance of 'Tony Bennett: Duets II' (for the rest of the country check the listing for your local PBS station

Tony made music history with the Grammy-nominated CD Duets II when it debuted at the top of the Billboard Album charts, making Bennett the oldest vocal artist ever to achieve the number one spot. Recently nominated for three Grammys, including Best Traditional Pop Vocal, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), the critically acclaimed album followed the 85-year-old singer’s Grammy-winning 2006 Duets CD, which had, in turn, been released in honor of his 80th birthday.

 

Tony Bennett: Duets II, a presentation of THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, features the singer’s greatest hits, performed by Bennett and today’s biggest stars, including John Mayer, Michael Bublé, k.d. lang, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Faith Hill, Alejandro Sanz, Carrie Underwood and more.

 

 

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

 

The album took more than six months to record, with each track recorded face-to-face with his singer partners in studios around the world, from LA to Nashville to London. Among the many highlights is Amy Winehouse’s last recorded track (“Body and Soul”), which was produced in London’s famous Abbey Road Studios in March. Other tracks were recorded in New York in late July: the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart classic, “The Lady Is a Tramp” withLady Gaga, and the Alan and Marilyn Bergman classic, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” with Aretha Franklin, and “Stranger in Paradise” with Andrea Bocelli, recorded at the singer’s Italian home (see full track listing below).

 

The CD received kudos from all quarters. The Wall Street Journal noted that the singer was “…constantly reaffirming his position as pop music’s greatest living patriarch,” and Associated Press observed, “Tony Bennett is as timeless as the songs he sings on ‘Duets II.’”

 

The musical segments are highlighted by insights on the process from the performers, making for an up-close look at one of the year’s most celebrated recordings. The sessions were filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe (“Chicago,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Collateral”), providing a personal, behind-the-scenes look at Bennett’s latest collaborations and his artistic approach with each song.

 

Entering his seventh decade as a recording artist with more than 100 albums and 15 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Bennett has earned his legendary status many times over. He remains the Columbia recording artist with the greatest longevity at the label. His 2007 primetime special, “Tony Bennett: An American Classic,” won seven Emmy Awards and was directed by Academy Award winner Rob Marshall.

 

He has performed for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Geroge H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama. He also worked with and marched alongside Martin Luther King in his 1965 civil rights march and was honored with the Martin Luther King’s Salute to Greatness Award.

 

In addition to performing, he is a visual artist as well, with three of his original paintings featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian, including his portraits of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. His humanitarian efforts are renowned, and the United Nations honored him with their Humanitarian Award in 2007.

 

He has published three books — his autobiography, The Good Life, and two collections of his paintings, Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen and Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art and Music. Bennett founded, in association with the Department of Education in New York City, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts — a public arts high school in his hometown of Astoria, Queens. With his wife, Susan, he established Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization that supports arts education in NYC public high schools. Exploring the Arts supports 14 public high schools throughout New York City.

In the fall of 2007, a documentary of Bennett’s life and career, produced by Clint Eastwood, “Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends,” aired on THIRTEEN’s American Masters on PBS.

The full song program follows: 

“The Lady Is a Tramp” (Lady Gaga)
“One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” (John Mayer)
“Body and Soul” (Amy Winehouse) 
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (Michael Bublé) 
“Blue Velvet” (k.d. lang) 
“How Do You Keep the Music Playing” (Aretha Franklin) 
“The Girl I Love” (Sheryl Crow) 
“On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Willie Nelson) 
“Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” (Queen Latifah) 
“Speak Low” (Norah Jones) 
“This Is All I Ask” (Josh Groban) 
“Watch What Happens” (Natalie Cole) 
“Stranger in Paradise” (Andrea Bocelli) 
“The Way You Look Tonight” (Faith Hill) 
“Yesterday I Heard the Rain” (Alejandro Sanz) 
“It Had to Be You” (Carrie Underwood) 

What was life on the road for a musician in the big band era?

Q. "What was life on the road for a musician in the 'big band era'?"

A. The life of a big band musician, even in the top bands of the late 30's and early 40's, was anything but glamorous.

Artie Shaw

Food too often meant meals in greasy diners that announced via neon signs that they had "Good Eats" or many times simply sandwiches and beer back on the bus. The bus was the primary form of transportation, particularly due to the fact that very few bands were touring nationally.

Most worked areas or regions such as New England, the Upper Midwest, California, etc. When not sleeping on the bus during overnight journeys to the next play date or "gig" they would stay at hotels that were never of the "five star" variety.That was true for the white members of an intergrated band....non-white members often had to stay in private homes or boarding houses with three or four per room.

Pay, was also, a major problem. It was never generous (Benny Goodman was notoriously "tight with a buck"). With this type of nomadic life it is not surprising to find alcholism, and drugs all too common.

The quality and comfort of the band bus rose, naturally, with the commercial success of the band. My favorite bus story involves the early days of the Artie Shaw band. Money was tight and the bus leaked, but a savior appeared in the shape of Tommy Dorsey. Dorsey's band was getting national attention, particularly due to the popularity of the skinny boy vocalist that Tommy had hired away from Harry James (Francis Albert Sinatra, of course).

Flush with new found financial success, Tommy purchased a new bus. Artie Shaw jumped at the opportunity to buy Dorsey's bus. It took almost every penny he had....so much so that for many months after, the Artie Shaw band toured the North East in a bus that was still painted with the Tommy Dorsey name!

After the war (WW2) many musicians gave up the road life for a wife, house, children and a dog. And...the ballroom dancers of the pre-war era married and turned to the home as an entertainment center in the late 40's and early 50's. The centerpiece was the big box in the living room with the small black and white screen that became their 'window on the world.' Life was changed forever.